Five of 137 Ta Tai Primary School students in Takeo’s Tram Kak district yesterday remained hospitalised, and in serious condition, after eating what is believed to have been tainted food they received during a charity event organised by 11 students at a Phnom Penh business school on Tuesday, according to a health official.

Nuth Senath, director of the provincial health department, said 92 students were sent to Tram Kak district hospital, while 45 were admitted at the provincial referral hospital after eating rice, vegetables and milk of an unknown brand.

Heng Thy, director of Tram Kak district hospital, said the students admitted in his hospital were experiencing diarrhoea, fever and stomachaches.

As of yesterday afternoon, five of them were still in serious condition, he said. “If they hadn’t come to the hospital in time, they could have dehydrated, which could have caused death,” he said.

Sam Sokuntheary, a deputy principal of CamEd Business School, where the event’s organisers study, said the school was not responsible as it was a student-organised event. Regardless, the school will provide $35 to each student who became ill, he said.